McNeil hitting streak reaches 30 games

Erie's Jeff McNeil matched the 5th-longest hitting streak in league history, reaching 30 games, and took over the lead in the DMBL batting race in process.

Micro Conference: Catchers

The 2022 DMBL All-Star Game is nearly here and balloting will begin shortly. Here's a breakdown of some of the contenders at each position.

Glasnow throws 2nd no-hitter of 2019

A week after Hillsborough was the first franchise to throw three no-hitters, San Francisco upped the ante, matching them with a no-no by Tyler Glasnow.

2018 batting leaders

Marietta thrashed Vancouver 14-1 in the regular season finale in a game that didn't matter all of that much because the Mighty Men had already locked up the No. 5 seed and the Iron Fist had all but sewn up the No. 3 seed.

Arkansas, Poovey last 21 innings

Arkansas and Poovey Farms went 21 innings last Tuesday night in the longest game of the season, just one inning short of the longest game in DMBL history.

Players of the Month: May

OK, it's a little late to look at the league's stats in May, but hey, it's never really too late, is it? First, let's have a look at the standings, and then we'll delve into the individual league leaders.

2016 Mitchell Award winner: Giancarlo Stanton

Home run champion Giancarlo Stanton was the runaway winner for the 2016 Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Player Award. It's his first Mitchell Award and also the first for the Allentown franchise.

2016 Mitchell Award candidates

The Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Player Award, named for the great Maine and Waikiki outfielder, recognizes the DMBL's top hitter.

In war of attrition, Tucson takes Game 5 in 14 innings

Tucson outlasted Arkansas for a 2-1 win in a critical Game 5 on Monday, taking advantage of a fielding miscue after an epic pitching battle that lasted into the 14th inning.

2016 league batting leaders

No records were shattered during this season but there were some impressive efforts from batters in 2016, and one quirky DMBL mark was matched.

Cespedes, Stanton race for the Mitchell

Allentown slugger Giancarlo Stanton and Hopatcong's Yoenis Cespedes have done their best the past week to make the Kevin Mitchell Award a two-man race in the home stretch of the season.

Pearce nabs MVP as Golden Falcons take title

The 5th-seeded Arkansas Falcons went through a gauntlet of the 4th-seeded Poovey Farms Dairy Cows in 4 games, an epic 7-game series versus the top-seeded Tucson Scorpions, and finally knocked off the No. 2 seed and defending champion San Francisco Experience in five games to claim the 2015 DMBL title.

Arkansas did it behind it's killer P's lineup: Steve Pearce, Jhonnny Peralta, Buster Posey and Martin Prado. And don't forget Anthony Rizzo, along with some great pitching from Alex Wood, Marcus Stroman and a solid bullpen.

Pearce, who started all 16 games in the postseason, led all players in hits with 18 (along with teammate Lorenzo Cain), slashing .310/.412/.552, with a team-high 3 home runs, with 7 RBIs. Leonys Martin and Wood, both picked up from Philly at the trade deadline, also got consideration for postseason MVP honors. Arkansas gave up a 9th rounder for Martin and a 2nd and a 6th for Wood.

Martin only started 10 games in the postseason, including just one in the finals, but led the Falcons with 11 RBIs. He came up with 3 hits and 5 RBIs in a decisive Game 7 win over Tucson in the semi-finals. In a critical Game 3 against San Francisco, Martin propelled the Falcons to a 6-5 with 3 RBIs on 3 hits.

Wood tossed 7 shutout innings in the championship-clinching Game 5 and went 8 2/3 shutout innings in a vital Game 5 win in the semi-finals versus Tucson. Despite leading the league in postseason walks with 12 -- thanks to a 6-walk effort in Game 1 of the finals -- Wood was the Falcons' best pitcher. He was 2-1 with a league-high 27.2 innings, to go with 24 strikeouts (second only to Chris Sale's 32) and 1.30 ERA.

In the finals, Pearce led the Falcons with 8 hits and 17 total bases, slashing .444/.565/.944. Peralta, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft after Zach Duke, had a team-high 6 runs and 3 doubles, slashing .368/.455/.842, and right behind Pearce with 16 total bases in the five games during the finals. Overall, Arkansas hit .273 in the final, .337 on-base and slugged .483. They out-homered San Francisco 9 to 4.

The at-times dominant Sale was handled by the Arkansas lineup. San Francisco's ace made two starts in the finals, lasting only 10 2/3 innings, with a 5.89 ERA and 1.96 WHIP. The Experience saw some of their biggest hitters tamed in the finals, getting most of their offense from an unlikely source in platoon catcher Renee Rivera, who had 5 of San Francisco's 15 RBIs. Thanks to two big swings, he led the team in hits, batting, slugging, on-base, total bases and RBIs. Victor Martinez was just 3-for-21, the only other San Francisco regular to homer, with a 9th inning solo shot in Game 4. The team hit just .222, with an on-base of .287 and slugged a meager .323 in the finals.

It was Rivera's eighth-inning grand slam in Game 5 that proved to be San Fran's last gasp, cutting the Falcons lead to 5-4 at the time. Arkansas would add an insurance run in the 9th before finishing off the Experience for good.

San Francisco's Adam LaRoche led all batters in RBIs in the postseason with 12, and a league-high four home runs, followed by Martin with 11.

It's the 6th DMBL title in franchise history for Arkansas. The Golden Falcons are the first wild card team to advance to the series since Newark in 2010 and the first wild card to win the title since Marietta in 2009. It's also the second year in a row that the defending champion lost in the finals (San Francisco knocked off Hoboken in 6 games in the 2014 series).

Opening week in review

Not only was veteran Johan Santana of Arkansas the only starter to win both his starts in the opening week, his first win of the season, a 7-1 victory over Carolina, was the 100th of his career, becoming the 18th pitcher in league history to reach the milestone (and beating Mark Buehrle, who sites at 99 wins, and Roy Oswalt, who picked up No. 99 Monday night). He now sits in a tie for 16th all-time in wins, with Brad Radke and Javier Vazuez. And so, Santana, who won the Ben McDonald Award pitching for Philly in 2005 and 2007, is the first Mentos, The Freshmaker Pitcher of the Week for the 2011 season.

The only other two-win pitchers during the opening week were relievers: Hoboken's Tim Stauffer (2-0) and Daniel Bard of Sardine City (2-1). Philadelphia's Matt Thornton led the league in saves with three and Marietta's Francisco Liriano was tops in strikeouts with 18. Other notable pitchers were Philly's Roy Halladay, who tossed a complete game win, helping him match Carolina's Tim Hudson for the lead in innings pitched with 16 1/3. Amityville's David Aardsma tossed 7 1/3 hitless innings in four relief appearances and Carolina phenom Stephen Strasburg fanned 10 while earning the win in his first start.

We were inclined to give the Rebecca Black/Know Your Meme Batter of the Week to a veteran like Hideki Matsui, who's raking for Philly this year. The long-time Sugar Bear started the season with a 5-for-5, two home-run opening day performance and followed it up two days later with two more homers and five more RBIs. He led the league in RBIs (10), tied for the lead in runs (7) with four other players, and matched New Jersey's Joey Votto for the league lead in homers (4).

Still, Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey of Arkansas put up arguably a better week, considering it was his first one in DMBL. The rookie backstop, who was drafted as an ineligible prospect in the 12th round of the 2010 draft, led the league in multiple categories, including batting average (.571), slugging (1.034), hits (15), extra base hits (9), runs created (16.0), RC/27 (27.0) and total bases (30). He was second to fellow rookie Jason Heyward of Las Vegas in on-base percentage, and tied with Votto for second in RBIs.

In addition to Posey, teammate Justin Morneau and Carolina's Michael Young hit safety in all seven games they played last week. Other players with multiple-homer games last week included Marietta's Ichiro Suzuki and Justin Morneau of Arkansas, who like Matsui did it on Opening Day. Other notables during opening week were Vancouver rookie Austin Jackson, who along with Alexis Rios of Blue Ridge and Marietta's Brett Gardner led the league in steals (3). In addition to Young, Amityville's Delmon Young also racked up a dozen hits last week.

Despite picking up both player awards this week, it wasn't enough for Arkansas to reach the .500 in the opening week, finishing at 3-4. Arkansas wasn't alone though. While Las Vegas and Philly both raced out to 6-0 starts, only Carolina, Blue Ridge and Hoboken bettered the .500 mark. After one week, Bridgewater and New Jersey were bringing up the rear, at 1-5.